Remarkably, about one hundred and twenty examples of the two editions survive intact today. For the 1482 edition, Holl ordered his paper stock from Italy, and used expensive lapis for the blue of his oceans. In this later edition, 

 used less extravagant materials. What was once presumably a purple wash in the oceans and seas has faded to brown after a five-hundred-year interval, as is typical of nearly all examples of the 1486 edition.

The world map is drawn using the homeotheric projection, which is ovoid, which Ptolemy considered superior but more difficult to construct. It stretches from the Western Atlantic across to Asia and covers 180 degrees of longitude. Generally, the world is shown as it was understood by the Alexandrine ancients, extending from Great Britain in the northwest, the Canary Islands in the west, mid-China in the east, and North Africa in the south. The Indian Ocean features a large island, Taprobana (Sri Lanka). A new addition of a rudimentary Scandinavia appears within an extension of the map above the neat-line. The whole globe is surrounded by a broad decorative border including twelve windheads. 

Africa is connected to Asia by a southern land bridge turning the Indian Ocean into a land-locked sea. Following classical geography, the Nile is shown rising from two great lakes fed from rivers in the 'Mountains of the Moon'. The outline of the western coast of Africa extending down towards the equator follows the Ptolemaic model, but with several additional place names and details deriving from fifteenth century Portuguese-sponsored explorations along the coast.

Interestingly, China is split between 'The Kingdom of Sina' (China) in the south, and further north, the 'Kingdom of Serica' (Silk). This division of China may come from the inability of the Greeks and Romans of the Classical period to correlate the differing accounts describing China.

This is the first printed world map to include territory below the Tropic of Capricorn, and is also the earliest printed map to show the northernmost reaches of the Atlantic Ocean. A curious change between 

’s edition (this book) and that of Holl’s is that the Tropic of Capricorn, correctly named in the first edition, has been mistakenly labelled Tropic of Cancer in the reissue.

Double-page woodcut Ptolemaic map of the world, with contemporary hand-colour in full.

This is a revised edition of one of the most celebrated early world maps from 

’s 'Cosmographia', now better known as the 'Ulm Ptolemy'. It drew from recent discoveries to create a fusion of the latest cartographic information with Classical knowledge. 

After Holl’s bankruptcy in 1484, the Venetian publisher Justus de Albano acquired Holl’s materials and commissioned 

 to produce this second edition in 1486. While the pigments used on this hand-coloured map would still have been luxurious, they were far cheaper than the ruinously expensive lapis lazuli used in Holl’s edition. The beautiful shades of this map and more restrained colouring allow greater sight of the underlying engraving, including the lovely details of the windheads and rivers.

This world map, often referred to as the 'Ulm Ptolemy' and originally published in 

’s 'Cosmographia', which was a new edition of Claudius Ptolemy’s '

', is one of the foundational pieces of Early Modern cartography. It is a powerful demonstration of how the surviving remnants of geographical knowledge from the classical era formed the basis of European exploration in the Early Modern world.

This second edition of the so-called 'Ulm Ptolemy', was issued by the Venetian publisher Justus de Albano who acquired Holl’s materials following his declared bankruptcy in 1484. He then commissioned 

 to reissue Holl’s 'Cosmographia' in 1486, using more economical means rather than the extravagant decoration, such as the use of aquamarine that had put Holl out of business.

This world map, often referred to as the ‘Ulm Ptolemy’ and originally published in 

’s 'Cosmographia', was a new edition of Claudius Ptolemy’s '

', one of the foundational pieces of Early Modern cartography. It is a powerful demonstration of how the surviving remnants of geographical knowledge from the classical era formed the basis of European exploration in the Early Modern world.

Versions of this map were reissued by the printer 

 who economized by using colour wash rather than expensive pigments, like lapis lazuli, as Holl had done in his first edition. What was presumably originally a bluish purple, has migrated to brown over the intervening five hundred years. Another interesting alteration is that the Tropic of Capricorn, which had been correctly named in the first edition, is now labelled Tropic of Cancer.

Reger’s Reissue of the Ulm Ptolemy World Map